We have wind, hail, and even tornadoes predicted in Kansas as I write this, so I grabbed my camera and went to shoot a few photos of our flowers just in case they all blow away tonight. Won’t you join me on a garden tour? It’s been an early spring here in Kansas and after a long spell without rain, we got several inches and everything is just beautiful here!
Behind the pot of begonias and caladiums, you can see the first bloom on the new clematis we planted under the deck. We thought we’d lost the one we planted last spring, but it surprised us by popping up a few days after planting the new one, so now we’ll have red and white blooms on the same post.
Here’s a close-up of that gorgeous bloom. And you can just see last year’s clematis in the lower left corner. It will have white blooms.
There were two hostas under the deck when we moved here. We divided them in half a couple weeks ago, and now we have twice as many, and they didn’t suffer at all shape-wise. We’ll probably divide again in the fall. I love hostas!
I found the cute little pot with the chicken-wire cloche at a garage sale this spring. I just love the aster-like purple flowers and white alyssum together.
I bought a small shamrock (Oxalis) at the grocery store when we first moved here three years ago and it had been just gorgeous (and grew huge) until this spring when it sort of conked out. I cut it back and planted the corms back into new dirt, and this week the shamrock leaves are popping up again! So glad I didn’t lose it!
My rail pots were such a disappointment last year (because we planted in old dirt, I think.) So far this year, they’re doing great! Cosmos in the back of each pot just started blooming today, and the coleus, zinnias, and trailing veronica are all coming along.
My dad built this cart as a housewarming gift when we bought our first house. It has been my favorite feature in the yard for over a decade now. By summer’s end, the sweet potato vines (in two colors) and the Calibrachoa will spill over the sides. The red plant at the back of the big green pot is a poinsettia our neighbors gave us for Christmas. It’s turning into a beautiful plant and maybe I’ll even be able to bring it back in in time to have it “bloom” over the holidays. Outdoors, poinsettia leaves are green (though mine still has a few red leaves, the new growth is green.)
This is a favorite spot to sit on a warm summer evening. I love the checkerboard patio my husband made in the backyard.
I adopted the Boston fern from my mother-in-law, who was going to let it go for winter. It spent the winter in our house, and is now happily living on the deck. The Winterperry Blue speedwell in the hanging pot is some groundcover we dug up from the side of the house. It makes a pretty cascading plant!
What are your favorite flowers to plant or watch bloom in the spring? Are there memories attached to the flowers in your yard or garden?
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Wow! Your yard is bursting with all sorts of beautiful plants! I love it! Thanks for sharing your ‘yard walk-through’
Thanks for enjoying it with me, Alyssaz! I sure am loving this early spring!
Thank you for sharing the photos of your beautiful flowers. What glorious creations God has given us to enjoy! Have a blessed day!
His creation is AMAZING! I understand now why it was such a privilege for Adam and Eve to be God’s gardeners! I’m hoping heaven will hold a glimpse of THAT garden!
So pretty, Deb. I can’t wait to play in our yard. Now that we have one again!!
I’m so thrilled you have one again, Lenora! Can’t wait to see pictures when yours is in bloom!
Deb, will you please, please come to Michigan and make my yard look as gorgeous as yours?We have a guest suite…and a beach…
Lynn, I’ve seen photos of your garden and it is stunning! Like a wonderful English garden. Guest suite?? Beach?? I’m IN! That’s one thing Kansas just doesn’t have is beaches…even though one of my publishers tried to put a beach on a “Kansas” book cover once. 😉
I think you love flowers as much as me! Always enjoy your pics! I worked Saturday and Sunday afternoon potting flowers on my front porch and our breezeway. Flowers just make me smile!
Me too, Jamie! And I just love that God created such a wonderful variety…something for everyone!
Beautiful pictures. Hope you’re safe from the storms!
So far they’ve not come near, but we have rain and thunderstorms in the forecast all week long!We’d love the rain, but not the wind or hail or tornadoes!
I had four-o’clock seeds in an envelope from my father’s flowers. Years after he passed, I came across them, planted them and they came up in several colors. That was a special year for me with soft memories and love. Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House (My husband and I bought a packet last week ~ I am looking forward to watching them spurt up in delivered topsoil to freshen up ~ exciting!)
That’s SO special that you had the seeds. I never realized seeds would keep so long until we planted some old seeds last year and they sprouted up late in the summer. Such a nice surprise.
I have plants that came from the gardens of a couple of my aunts, sister, and a friend, and some irises that originated years ago in my grandmother’s garden (or the descendants of them anyway). My climbing rose bush was a gift from my kids. Most of my house plants also have memories of loved ones. Some were given to me by them, others were plants given to us for their funerals. My dad has some beautiful dark purple irises that need to be divided so I’ll probably get some of them this fall to put in my garden. I enjoy all my plants and flowers, but especially the ones that remind me of special people who are, or have been, in my life.
That’s awesome, Pam. Gardens are all the more special when most of the things blooming remind you of people you love and memories of things you did together. My mother-in-law started an iris festival out in Yucaipa, CA so I always think of her when I see irises.
Deb, thanks for sharing your garden. It is absolutely beautiful. We are just starting to plant flowers. Geraniums, begonias, Boston ferns, asparagus ferns, sweet potato, and two new lilies. I’ll confess, lilies are my favorite plant. I scour the nurseries looking for new varieties. I really should quit because I’m out of space! Oh, I almost forgot, my orange irises just started blooming.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen orange irises! That sound beautiful! We have some lilies here that I just love. Last year I was careful about deadheading them and they bloomed much longer! I want to do that again this year.
Oh Deb….I LOVE your beautiful flowers and enjoyed the “tour” – – thank you! 🙂
I am smiling because so many of the plants you’re growing are some that my Mama used to grow (she had a green thumb for sure) and seeing them brought back sweet memories. (Especially the hosta, Oxalis, and poinsettia)
I miss having a gardenia bush. At our previous house I had a lovely one that had been a Mother’s Day gift from my children when they were very young. I so regret not digging it up (or at least bringing cuttings with me) when we moved.
I have to say that my azaleas did better this year than ever before—they were coral-colored blooms and were gorgeous. If they only bloomed much longer! 🙂
Oh! Azaleas is something I’ve never had before (not sure how they do in Kansas??) but I always admire them when I see photos. I have plants I regret not bringing with us when we moved, too! 🙁
I have what I call my “grandma” garden as it has flowers from my mom’s flower garden (that I dug up the last time I was there over 5 years ago), Marshall’s mom and grandma’s flowers and some of my own as I’m a grandma also. It brings sweet memories when mom’s spring flowers and autumn flowers bloom. A touch of my mom’s love for flowers.
I can’t think of anything that would make the garden more special, Renee! Certain flowers always make me think of certain people. Peonies, especially, remind me of my mom, her mom, and my mom’s mom’s mom. 😉 I grew up on the farm my great-grandparents settled (my dad bought my mom’s grandparents’ farm) and I always loved when the peonies Great Grandmother had planted bloomed. Their purpose was always to decorate graves on Memorial Day (which was always my birthday until they started moving it around). Many times we decorated Great Grandmother’s grave with peonies SHE had planted.
Your Garden is lovely!
My grandma had the prettiest flower pots! I loved them all! She had some plants inside and some flowers outside.
I havent planted any flowers yet this spring ( I recently moved ) — but I hope to have some pretty flower pots soon!
I love having flowers inside AND out! Especially when the weather starts to get cold, I just love bringing a few pots inside to cheer things up. Happy Spring!